Council OKs study, contracts for wildfire study and vegetation management

Despite pleas from about two dozen people to reject the two items, City Council voted unanimously on Thursday to authorize an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station to conduct a study of wildland fire fuels on properties managed by the Balcones Canyonlands Preserve. The agreement relates to an update to a study done by Baylor University in 2009 on those properties. Council allocated up to $198,467 for the project for a term of three years.

Council also authorized contracts with four companies “for vegetation management for wildfire mitigation.” Although the agenda indicates that the total contracts will not exceed $7.5 million, only $200,000 is available in the Parks and Recreation Department’s operating budget. “Funding for the remaining contract term is contingent upon available funding in future budgets,” according to the agenda. The prescribed burns done by these contractors are far more controversial than the study.